Roman sat nervously kicking his feet in the doctor's office. He didn't like the doctor's office. The smell of all the antiseptic always set him off. The crinkly paper on the exam table felt wrong. Tongue depressors made him feel sick. It brought up too many bad memories he had to fight to not fall into. Parents always resented having to take him if they ever even bothered so it felt like he was in trouble. They just rubbed him the wrong way, and he hated being here. The door opened and Roman looked up to see the doctor walk in.
"So what brings you in today?"
"Roman's got a bad bruise over his ribs and we'd like it recorded and x-rayed," Thomas motioned to Roman on the table. Roman waved nervously to the doctor with the tips of his fingers. He just wanted to get this over with and leave more than anything.
"Can you show me the bruise?" The doctor asked. Roman swallowed and nodded, pulling up his shirt. The purple really came bursting out today. It was purple and green and just generally sickly looking, blossoming slightly from the original green blot. You could just barely make out the line from the rubber sole, just like Roman thought he would. They could probably see it better tomorrow.
"That is a nasty one. What's it from?" The Doctor asked, examining the mark closely.
"Steel-toed boot," Roman supplied. The doctor looked shocked for a moment and his face hardened.
"Could you leave the room for a moment, Mr. Sanders?" The doctor asked firmly and Thomas nodded, getting out of the chair and stepping out into the hall. Roman looked desperately to Thomas as he left. He didn't want to be left alone in here. Thomas gave him a small reassuring smile. He didn't want a smile, he wanted Thomas back in here.
"Are you safe at home?" The doctor asked.
"Um, yeah, I think a cop did this," Roman mumbled. "Can he come back in? Please?" Roman asked desperately, pointing at the door.
"Oh, that's very serious," The doctor muttered and walked over to the door and opened it. "You can come back in, Mr. Sanders. All right, let me examine it and then we'll send you down the hall for x-rays and photos if it's necessary," The doctor put his stethoscope on Roman's back. "Breathe in," Roman complied and winced. "And out," Roman's breath shuddered. They did it a second time with equally painful results. "Will you lie back on the table and hold your shirt up?" The Doctor asked. Roman nodded and leaned back to let the doctor prod at it. It was possibly more sore after deep breathing than it was before. "Does this hurt?"
"Yes," Roman hissed through his teeth. The doctor hummed in concern.
"I need you to take another deep breath," The doctor requested.
"Do I really have to?" Roman moaned. It hurt like a bitch and this was the last place he wanted to be in pain.
"I'm afraid so," The doctor nodded. "Breathe in. Hold it. Alright, let it out slowly," Roman hissed again as he let out the air, flinching. "Yes, I think x-rays will be necessary. Take a left when you exit and wait in the lobby on the right labeled Radiology and they'll call you in. I'll let the techs know they need to take regular photos when they're done. It would be smart to take some photos yourself and document it for the next few days as well," The doctor said. "I should be clear that I'm not willing to testify for the patient's sake, I don't have that kind of time. If you are planning on suing, you should get a doctor recommendation from a lawyer. I'm willing to document today's evidence, though. Avoid anything that involves bending, lifting, twisting, or strenuous activity. Some ibuprofen for the pain if necessary is alright in the short term, but do not do it on too many continuous days," The doctor explained before heading out the door.
Roman slowly got up, really really mindful of his aching and painfully pulsing side. He had no idea what all that awful poking was about if he was going to just recommend x-rays after 3 minutes. He could have spared Roman the pain and sent him right to radiology, damnit.
"We're not suing, right?" Roman asked nervously, looking at Thomas with trepidation.
"No, we're just filing a complaint," Thomas said, offering his arm to help Roman down. Roman took it cautiously and slid off the exam table. Roman just stared at Thomas in confusion.
"Let's get to the x-ray waiting room," Thomas said, making sure Roman was stable before heading out of the exam room.
The x-rays were also awful, with all kinds of deep breaths and holding them while holding his arms up on a bar. School would probably be better than this. Though they were also getting a note for him to sit out of gym and his missed days while they were here. And Roman was thankful for being allowed to sit out of gym. If he had to do push-ups or sit-ups he might actually cry from pain, and that would be incredibly embarrassing and he'd definitely get made fun of. Roman sort of spaced out in the car after they left. There was a really sharp pain now instead of the dull continuous pain from all the deep breathing. He hoped that would go down if he tried not to breathe too deeply.
Roman mindlessly followed Thomas when they got out of the car, still kind of spacing out. He slid his hands in his pockets and shifted slightly when Thomas stopped and squatted down. The bottom of his right foot hurt much worse than the left and felt kind of hot, and he was trying to not put too much weight on it. Wait, why was Thomas squatting down? Roman looked at what Thomas was examining. It was a game case. When the hell did they get to a game store?
"There's apparently 5 of those games, Roman. We can grab two while we're here. Excuse me, Miss? We'd like to buy some DS games," Roman stood up and waved to the lady behind the register. She stopped leaning against the counter and came over to unlock the case.
"Which ones, sir?" She asked in a very dispassionate retail-is-killing-me tone. Roman felt for her.
"The first two Rune Factory games," Thomas supplied. "You've got plenty of free time today to start playing," Thomas said brightly and followed the lady over to the counter to pay. Roman was in a lot of pain and a shell-shocked. He didn't know what to do about this. Roman glanced down to the case. At least they were kind of cheap. Roman's allowance could cover them. The others cost more, but he could buy them with his allowance one at a time if he really wanted them. He really just wanted something chill to focus on so he wouldn't have to listen to his brain all night, just part of it. At least his allowance covered it. Roman followed to the counter and watched Thomas finish checking out.
"Thank you," Roman said gratefully as Thomas handed off the bag with a smile.
"Anytime. We still have to swing by a pharmacy for some topical painkiller for your bruise and then we'll head home. We can pick up a few other things while we're there," Thomas headed back out to the car and Roman followed close behind.
The pharmacy was only a few minutes away and Roman returned to following closely behind Thomas while he was shopping. They went to the food aisles after grabbing some topical painkiller that smelled terrible. He picked a gatorade after Thomas badgered him to grab a drink. Thomas grabbed a few bags of chips, some chocolates, and a box of cookies.
"Do you need any school supplies while we're here?" Thomas asked as they passed the office supply aisle.
"I need a blue folder and a green folder," Roman said, turning in to the aisle.
"What is the school's obsession with colored folders?" Thomas asked rhetorically and rolled his eyes. "Do you need any pencils or notebooks?"
"Not really," Roman mumbled as he grabbed the two folder colors he needed. Thomas grabbed two composition notebooks and a pack of pencils, anyway.
"Just in case," Thomas smiled. "What's a kneaded eraser? It's very squishy," Thomas eyeballed a package.
"It's an eraser you can shape and knead. The more you knead it, it gets cleaner, too. It's for fine erasing and charcoal," Roman supplied.
"Oh, that's cool. Do you have one?" Thomas asked, picking up the package.
"No," Roman replied, examining a neat journal that went through the spectrum of the rainbow depending on the angle you held it to the light.
"That's a nice journal. Do you want to get it?" Thomas asked. Roman looked between Thomas and the journal, then tried to check the shelf. Thomas's hand shot out and covered the tag with the basket. "No, no. Money non-withstanding. If you like it, put it in the basket. If you don't like it and it was just shiny, put it back," Roman started to put it back, but he had a feeling Thomas already saw right through him and sighed, sliding it in the basket beside the chips. "Thanks. That's everything, let's check out and head home," Thomas smiled brightly. Roman rolled his eyes and slid his hands into his pockets as he followed Thomas to the register.
Roman continued to space out on the ride home. He kept breathing shallowly to get the pain to go back down to dull instead of stabby, and it was making Roman kind of sleepy. Thomas let Roman carry in the bag of chips, but took the other two bags of items himself as they headed inside. Thomas took them right into the kitchen and started unloading them right away. Roman went to go put the chips in the pantry. Thomas handed Roman his gatorade and cracked open his own lemonade.
"Just for my own peace of mind, would you be willing to read or play your new game on the couch in my office?" Thomas asked, wadding up the plastic bags and putting them in a storage container on the inside of the pantry door.
"I'm fine, Thomas," Roman rolled his eyes.
"How are your arms?" Thomas asked, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrow.
"Still itchy as hell," Roman provided and Thomas raised his eyebrow. "Okay," Roman huffed. "But can we bring in a bowl of those peanut butter pretzels?" Roman conceded and motioned to the pantry.
"A very agreeable compromise," Thomas chuckled and pulled a bowl from the cabinet.
Roman went to go drop off the bag of school supplies in his room and grab some things. He wanted the throw for warmth. The ice packs for his bruise made him so cold. Roman's feet really hurt, and he sat on the bed to take off his shoes. His eyes caught on his dark red sock. Oh. That's why the right side hurt so much. Roman must have reopened a cut. He took off his other shoe and sock and examined the bottom. The bandages on the left foot were still intact and dry, though a little loose, probably from his shower. The other sock was sticking to his foot, and he tried to peel it off carefully without opening the wound worse. The bandage ripped off in the sock and Roman checked his foot. It wasn't actively bleeding but also wasn't exactly healed or even closed.
"Roman? What's taking so long?" Thomas called.
"Nothing," Roman called back, trying to figure out how to solve this without hurting his spine more.
"I'll decide that, if that's okay," Thomas said, walking in the open bedroom door. "Oh. Geez. Let met grab the first aid kit. I guess we pushed it too much this afternoon. We'll have to be more careful the next few days," Thomas said, sounding concerned.
"No, it's fine," Roman tried to start and held up his hand to try to dissuade him.
"Let's not get blood on the floor if we can help it," Thomas said, turning back out of the bedroom. Roman didn't think about that. Thomas came back in with the kit and Roman reached out for it. "I've got it," Thomas said, waving Roman off and sitting on the floor. He cleaned off the blood patch and re-bandaged everything on both feet. Roman felt awkward and wrung his comforter idly as he waited. "Hold on, I'll get you some new socks to help protect them. Which drawer?"
"Bottom of the dresser," Roman pointed. Thomas pulled open the drawer and frowned, pulling out a pair of socks and scooted back over to slide them on.
"Where are all your socks?" Thomas furrowed his eyebrows.
"I haven't done laundry yet," Roman shrugged. Thomas eyed the bloody sock on the bed.
"Oh, hm, well, we can throw those out and get you some more socks," Thomas offered.
"No need, I just need to soak it in hydrogen peroxide and ice water," Roman said, getting up carefully and tossing them in the laundry basket. Thomas hummed in disapproval, but didn't say anything. Roman grabbed his things for the couch and headed downstairs with Thomas, who took Roman's load with one arm and held out his forearm for Roman to hold. He didn't think all this was necessary, but it hurt going upstairs and the help wouldn't be uncalled for. He took Thomas's arm to descend carefully.
Roman settled down on the couch in Thomas's office and Thomas passed over his DS with a appreciative smile. Roman took it carefully and nodded to him. At least Thomas was thankful Roman was willing to humor him. The DS was actually one of the newer ones, so it had the bigger screens and an extra joystick. Roman had brought down his old wired pair of headphones to plug into it along with the bluetooth pair in case he got sick of the game music. He reached out for a pretzel bite and loaded up the game.
The start was slow, almost unbearably so, but Roman was determined to get to the monster murder part and stuck it out. Plus, the music was nice, and the characters were interesting. It really was relaxing to play, even if Roman was feeling impatient. Roman wrapped up in his throw from his bed and leaned against the arm of the couch with his feet up. When he looked up, he could see Thomas's really focused face as he typed away at his computer. Thomas didn't seem to acknowledge Roman staring at him, so either he didn't care or didn't notice. Roman went back to clearing out the farm.
"Welcome back, Virgil," Thomas called from his desk and Roman looked up from the game to see a very sarcastic smile in the doorway, flipping him off. Virgil was in a good mood, he guessed.
'Thomas got more chips,' Roman signed after he put down the DS in his lap. Virgil looked excited and left the doorway immediately.
"What did you say to him?" Thomas asked curiously as Roman picked back up the DS.
"I told him about the chips," Roman said passively, pulling out his sword and taking down some orcs.
"I worry about that kid's sodium intake," Thomas said with a concerned look, then turned back to his computer and went back to work. Lita joined Roman up on the couch at one point while Roman was playing. Eventually the screen made his eyes hurt a, and he closed it up. He laid back on the couch and watched some ASL lessons on YouTube on his phone instead. He needed to learn a bit more vocabulary. And food signs. He put his phone up on his legs and signed along as guided.
Roman got through 3 videos before yawning defeated him from learning and he gave up to just watch YouTube in general, sinking further into the loveseat. There was an annoying guy who sucked at craft projects and cussed like a sailor that he couldn't seem to stop watching. He chuckled through his nose as the guy covered his hand in fake blood from some fake injury involving sharp objects. He also watched a guy and his goth girlfriend with a killer eyeliner game try Instagram foods and take a blowtorch to donuts. Other than the ones that set on fire, they looked good. He was actually getting kind of hungry. He reached out and fruitlessly checked the bowl for anymore pretzel bites. Darn. Roman glanced at the time on the wall clock, wondering if he should snack or not.
"How do you feel about take out tonight? I'm kind of on a roll here," Thomas asked, continuing to type. That was pretty impressive for a guy who didn't look like he was paying any attention at all. Could he see Roman while he was working? Was he secretly psychic? He did somehow know when Roman scratched his bandages from another room yesterday.
"Um, whatever's fine," Roman mumbled.
"Will you find out what Virgil wants?" Thomas asked, continuing to type.
"Uh, sure," Roman opened the texting app and messaged Virgil. "Indian or Thai," Roman told Thomas as soon as Virgil responded.
"I should have guessed. Let's get Thai," Thomas said, pulling out his phone. He sent menu links to Roman, Virgil, and Patton in a group chat. Virgil replied with Tom Yum Kung pretty quickly. Roman hadn't eaten Thai much, so he just picked Pad Thai, since it's one he'd tried before and liked it. Thomas asked Patton to make the order and pick it up in the chat and went back to work quickly. Roman returned to watching things on YouTube. After a few videos, he realized he probably should catch up on his homework. He'd been wasting too much time today with that giant pile upstairs. Roman folded up his throw and got up.
"Hey, where are you going?" Thomas said, without moving his head or stopping. Okay, so Thomas could see him. Was this another dad powers thing or did he have amazing peripheral vision? It was weird.
"Homework," Roman said as he picked up all his things.
"No, you need a break today," Thomas said, shaking his head.
"I took a break yesterday," Roman furrowed his eyebrows. "I have stuff to do,"
"You are recovering," Thomas said firmly.
"I'm already behind on my homework," Roman objected.
"You were behind when you got here. Patton or I are happy to help you catch up tomorrow," Thomas offered with a sly smile.
"I'm sorry, you're seriously telling me not to do my homework?" Roman asked incredulously.
"That's exactly right," Thomas nodded, looking bemused.
"Score. Then I'm getting the laptop to play Minecraft," Roman smiled and motioned to the living room.
"That's fine. Please walk carefully," Thomas requested. Roman came back into Thomas's office with the laptop and sat cross-legged with the blanket folded up in his lap to hold the laptop. He connected his headphones and loaded back up the mansion behind the waterfall creative mode he was playing the other day.
Virgil knocked on the door and Roman and Thomas looked up. Virgil pointed to Roman and Thomas looked back to his monitor.
'What are you doing in here?' Virgil signed to him, looking around.
'Minecraft,' Roman fingerspelled.
'That's Minecraft' Virgil showed him the correct sign, which was just a digging motion on the palm for mine, then fingerspelling craft, which was odd. 'But I meant in his office,'
'Thanks. Thomas is concerned for me or whatever,' Roman shrugged and motioned with his head to Thomas.
'Lame,' Virgil signed and stuck out his tongue.
'I know,' Roman rolled his eyes. Virgil walked away again and Roman returned to his craft.